The Kentucky Baptist Convention has a long and rich history of establishing ministry and mission priorities. The KBC began in 1837 with four priorities — to distribute Bibles in Kentucky, to advocate for the education of ministers and the laity, to advocate for pastors’ pay and to fund foreign mission work together.
Following that tradition, each year the Kentucky Baptist Convention Mission Board staff identifies a list of ministry priorities that we will highlight for the upcoming year. These priorities represent only a small part of the work of our teams, but they represent an effort to develop cooperative ministry opportunities that can make a difference for advancing the gospel in Kentucky and around the world.
This year was no different. Here are seven priorities for the 2026-2027 year that were introduced to our KBC Mission Board at a recent meeting:
1. We will continue Calling Out the Called – Practical Preaching Workshops: Our goal is for 40 Practical Preaching Workshops to be established in Kentucky Baptist associations and churches to help God-called men move from the pew to the pulpit. This priority is driven by the fact that there are nearly 300 KBC churches without a pastor, most of which are looking for a bivocational pastor. We want to work together to help those churches have what they need to thrive.
2. We will officially launch a new Pastoral Wellness initiative: Driven by the vision to see every KBC church become a thriving church and every leader be a cared for leader, our goal is to provide resources and support to help churches care well for their pastors and to help pastors care well for themselves. This will require all hands on deck to assure that Kentucky is a state where pastors are valued and cared for.
3. We will continue the Every Church On Mission – Partnership Missions initiative: Kentucky Baptists give generously — even sacrificially — to keep 3,600 missionaries on the field and to plant more than 600 new churches in North America each year. The goal of this initiative is to help 300 KBC churches partner with our missionaries in Chile, Kenya, Cincinnati, New York City, South Florida and elsewhere through church planting, ESL, collegiate ministry, theological education, evangelism, construction and intercessory prayer.
4. We will work together to champion Kentucky Baptist Campus Ministry: There are 260,000 students attending Kentucky’s colleges and universities. We are told that 95 percent of those men and women are not connected to a faith community. The good news is that Kentucky Baptists have eight top-shelf campus ministries and campus ministers. KBC staff, local Baptist associations and local churches are also working with nearly 30 other schools in the state to develop Baptist Campus ministries there. Last year our BCM work trained more than 900 college students to have nearly 7,000 gospel conversations on Kentucky’s campuses. This is a work we can all get excited about!
5. We will partner together for Crossover 2026 – Hope for Central Kentucky this November: Since Madison County, Ky., has a population of 92,701 people, and only 12.5 percent of those attend church, Kentucky Baptists want to work together to engage 70 local churches, train 700 church members in gospel conversations and decision counseling, and host local evangelistic gatherings, in hopes of seeing 200 or more people come to faith in Christ during the days surrounding the KBC Annual Meeting in Richmond.
6. We will continue the Kentucky Baptist Sent Ones initiative: Southern Baptists have the best missionary funding system around, the Cooperative Program, but we are very weak when it comes to building healthy, encouraging and supportive relationships with those missionaries. The goal of Kentucky Baptist Sent Ones is to help KBC churches connect with their missionaries and church planters by providing workshops and conferences, along with print and video resources, to help us make lasting relational connections.
7. We will work together to promote the Mission:Dignity benefit among Kentucky Baptists: Mission:Dignity is a free benefit from GuideStone Financial Services in which qualifying Southern Baptist ministry retirees can receive a monthly check to aid their retirement income. Last year GuideStone gave away more than $10,000,000 to 2,600 hundred recipients. Our goal is to assure that many Kentucky Baptist retired ministers are being included in this wonderful benefit.
Proverbs 127:1 reminds us, Unless the LORD builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the LORD watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain. These goals represent a small but important portion of the work carried out each year by your KBC Mission Board Staff. These priorities will make a difference in Kentucky and around the world, but they are only possible as we all work together for the glory of God and the good of people.
We are saved by grace, Baptist by conviction and Kentucky Baptists because we believe we are at our best — and God is most glorified — when we work together for the mission. May the Lord be pleased to use us to reach Kentucky and the world for Christ until Jesus returns or calls us home.
Dr. Todd Gray 